SERMON: THE POWER OF BLESSINGS

27 August 2017

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Mark 10:13-16

Mark 10:13-16 [New International Version (NIV)]

13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

            -- one day, a group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit -- All the other frogs gathered around the pit, and looked down at their two friends -- when they saw how deep the pit was and how steep the sides were, they lost all hope -- they told the two fallen frogs that they were as good as dead

            -- The two frogs in the pit didn’t listen to their friends and jumped with all their might, trying to leap up out of the pit -- the other frogs kept telling them to stop wasting their energy -- that it was hopeless and they were as good as dead -- finally, one of the fallen frogs took heed to what they were saying and gave up -- He lay down exhausted and died.
            -- The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could -- once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die -- but the frog in the pit just jumped harder and harder and, lo and behold, he finally made it out

            -- when he got out, the other frogs said, "Didn’t you hear us? -- Why didn’t you give up like the other frog?” -- the frog who made it out of the pit explained to them that he was deaf -- he thought they were encouraging him the entire time he was struggling to get out
            -- This story teaches us a lesson that we need to understand put into practice in our lives today:
            -- There is power of life and death in the tongue -- Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit”

            -- what we say to ourselves and to others makes a difference in what we do -- An encouraging word to someone who is down can lift them up and help them make it through the day -- on the other hand, a destructive word to someone who is down can be what it takes to kill them.

            -- Be careful of what you say, both to others and yourself -- we need to take care to speak life and not death to those who cross our paths every day¹

            -- tonight, I want us to talk about the power of the tongue -- the power of words -- and, especially, the power of speaking blessings into the lives of those around us

            -- in our day, we take the concept of blessings and curses lightly -- if someone sneezes, we flippantly say, “Bless you,” without even thinking -- the idea of blessing someone has just become common-place and is considered just empty words without true power or meaning -- but the Bible says otherwise

            -- if you look back at the Book of Genesis, when God created the heavens and the earth -- the plants and the animals and Adam and Eve -- He looked at what He had created and He saw that it was good and He blessed it

            -- to bless something is to speak life into it -- to speak goodness and holiness into it -- when God blessed Adam and Eve, He was speaking meaning and purpose and goodness into their lives -- and His word brought that blessing to life

            -- that is why the blessing of the father to his children was such an important ritual in biblical times -- as the father spoke blessings into the life of his children -- as he proclaimed God’s goodness and righteousness and providential blessings into their lives, his words formed new life and a new reality through the blessing -- that is why it was such a big deal when Jacob stole the blessing of the firstborn from Esau -- because words had power and the blessing of the father onto his sons carried with it the future

            -- it was because of the power of the blessing that Jacob, when he was wrestling with God before his reunion with Esau, wouldn’t let God go until God blessed him -- blessings, and words, were powerful in the Bible

            -- even in our day, words matter -- the old adage, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me” is not true -- harsh and negative words can wound deeply and affect the future course of a person’s life -- in the same way, encouraging words can lift up the broken-hearted and inspire others to greatness

            -- let me give you an example of what I’m talking about from Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy’s book, “In a Heartbeat,”

            -- There is a little-known congressional program that awards internships to young people who have aged out of the foster care system -- these are the kids who were never adopted and have turned 18 and are no longer eligible for state support.

            -- A senator the Tuohys met hired one of these young men as an intern -- one morning the senator breezed in for a meeting and discovered that his intern was already in the office, reorganizing the entire mailroom. The senator said to the intern, "This is amazing—the mailroom has never looked so clean. You did a great job."

            -- A few minutes later the senator saw that the intern had tears streaming down his face.   -- [He] said, "Son, are you okay?" -- "Yes," the intern answered quietly. -- "Did I say something to offend you?" -- "No, sir." -- "Well, what's wrong?"

            -- The young man said, "That's the first time in my life anyone's told me that I did something good."

            -- "A little bit of attention and a kind word—that's how little it takes to affect someone's life for the better."²

            -- we need to realize this truth, and be careful of the words we speak to those around us -- we need to speak words of encouragement and blessing -- and we need to realize that when we bless others, it isn’t just meaningless, empty words, but a prayer for God’s grace and mercy and power to be made manifest in their lives -- by blessing others, we are asking that they would come to know the providential grace of God and that they would experience His presence in the manifold spiritual and material blessings they enjoy

            -- blessings still have meaning and power in our day, and we need to remember and reclaim the power that is inherent in this spoken word

II.  Scripture Lesson (Mark 10:13-16)

            -- we see an example of that truth in this passage from the Book of Mark, where the little children have been brought to Jesus for Him to bless them -- let’s look at this passage together now

            -- verse 13

13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them.

            -- Mark tells us that people were bringing little children to Jesus so that He might touch them and bless them -- I don’t think we need to just pass over what Mark is telling us here -- when we bless someone -- when we are speaking into their lives -- we are doing the same thing the people were doing in this passage -- we are bringing others to Jesus

            -- “A spoken blessing is a positive, Biblical statement that invokes the blessing of God in the life of another -- A spoken blessing does good to those who hear it”³ because you are bringing them before the throne of God and into the very presence of Jesus -- in a way, blessing others is a means of interceding for them -- of standing up for them before God Himself

            -- so that’s what we are seeing in this passage -- the people were bringing these children to Jesus so He could touch them and bless them

            -- John MacArthur points out that the parents in this passage were seeking a blessing that was a form of prayer -- a prayer “that God would pour out on this life all the goodness that would lead that child to become famous in the Law, faithful in marriage and do good works”

            -- but Mark tells us the disciples rebuked them -- we don’t know why the disciples tried to turn the people aside -- we do know that at this point, Jesus is headed to Jerusalem for the final time -- the cross is before Him -- and His ministry has taken an almost frantic pace as He sets His face towards Jerusalem -- perhaps the disciples sensed this urgency and were trying to keep Jesus from being delayed -- perhaps they were just worried about Jesus -- but, as Jesus shows in this passage, nothing could be more appropriate than letting the children and the people come before Him

            -- verse 14-15

14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

-- Jesus became indignant -- this means that He was angry or annoyed at the unfair treatment of these children -- no one should be kept from Jesus -- no one should be kept from the gospel or from the grace of God or from the blessing of the Creator

            -- so Jesus turns the rebuke around on the disciples and tells them to let the little children come to Him -- He sees their hearts -- He sees their innocence -- their whole-hearted faith in Him -- their unadulterated belief and trust in Jesus

            -- this, Jesus says, is the attitude that leads to the Kingdom of God -- and if you don’t let them come -- and if you don’t come like them yourselves -- then you will never enter it

            -- He tells them to come and invites them, not only into His presence, but into His lap -- into His arms -- into His heart

            -- verse 16

16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

            -- Jesus took the children into His arms and put His hands on them and blessed them by pronouncing God’s goodness and grace into their lives

            -- The word “bless” in this passage actually means to eulogize -- to speak well of or to speak good things of  -- as Jeff Schreve said, “When Jesus was blessing these children, he was speaking good things into their life about who they were and what they were going to do” -- and their lives would never be the same again

            -- one thing to note here is that Jesus laid His hands on the head of each child -- this was not a general blessing or benediction, but a personal blessing for each child, much as a father would have blessed their first-born or as the Rabbi would bless children brought before them

            -- this tells us that each child was important and each blessing was individualized for them -- that was a personal blessing and a personal time of intimacy with the Savior -- it reminds us that our faith and our salvation come through a personal relationship with Jesus -- we are not saved because we go to church -- we are not saved because we claim the name of Christ -- we are saved because we have personally come before the Savior and He has blessed us with salvation and forgiveness through His body and blood

            -- just think about what is going on here -- even though He was headed for the cross, Jesus thought enough of the power of the spoken word and blessings to stop and lay His hands on each of these children and bless their future

            -- we should do the same -- we should become more aware of what we are saying and the impact of our words on those around us -- we should learn to speak life, not death -- to speak blessings that inspire and empower others rather than negative words that bring people down

            -- Keith Miller, in his book Passionate People, which he co-authored with Bruce Larson, describes two kinds of people -- "basement people" and "balcony people."

            -- "Basement people" are the discouragers in our lives -- They may be people from our past, or present, but their words go with us everywhere we go -- They are the negative influences in our lives and their words go something like this: "You can't do that." -- "That's a stupid thing to do." -- "When are you going to get it right?"

            -- Basement people divert us from our hopes and dreams -- they constantly point out what is wrong, rather than what is right with us -- Basement people cause a room to light up when they leave.

            -- In contrast to them are the "Balcony People." -- They are people who are full of love and cheer us on.  -- they encourage us to be loving, courageous followers of Christ. -- They sit in the balcony of our lives like a heavenly cheering section, saying, "You can do it." -- "We believe in you." -- "You are special to us." -- Balcony people are the great encouragers in our lives and we all need them! -- balcony people bless us and inspire us and speak great things into our lives

            -- Balcony people try to lift people up to where they are, but basement people try to drag people down where they are⁴

           

            -- this passage encourages us to follow Jesus’ example and strive to become balcony people -- we should actively bless those around us by encouraging one another and applauding baby steps of faith to spur people on to greater things in Christ -- we need to speak God’s blessings and empowerment into the lives of those around us

            -- people need encouragement -- they need someone who can bring out the best in them -- right now we're in the middle of college football season -- think about the job of a coach -- what is it the coach does? -- he looks at the gifts and talents of his players -- he looks at what they are doing -- and then he challenges them and encourages them to reach out and do even more -- this is what we are called to do as Christians

            -- too many Christians are negative -- we don't like the music -- we didn't like the preaching -- we don't like the way that person sings or dresses or whatever -- we speak negativity into their lives

            -- but our calling is to be people who bless others -- to speak life and love and purpose into the lives of others, especially as we see the Day -- the end of the age -- approaching

            -- people want to know they are loved and appreciated -- and that is our job as Christians and as the church

            -- it all begins with us -- we must hear the call of God in our lives -- we must know God and we must show God to others -- we must care for the poor and the helpless -- we must speak life and hope to the hopeless -- we must stand up for those without a voice in our communities

III.  Closing

            -- so, how do we begin?  -- let’s turn over to Numbers 6:22-27, and we’ll answer that question

            -- while you are turning over there, let me share with you this thought from Tracy Keck:  “All day -- every day -- we have the chance to speak words that bring life or death -- Whether we are talking to our families -- [our] peers -- [our] co-workers -- strangers -- or even ourselves -- the words we use will either tear down or build up.

            -- “everything we say either leads to life or to death -- if we choose to speak in a manner that is harsh, hurtful, condemning, gossipy, dishonest, or deceitful, we are then choosing death.

            -- “But, if we choose to speak words that are encouraging, peaceful, healing, kind, lovely, and uplifting, then we are choosing life.” ⁵

            -- we need to become people who speak life -- who speak blessings on those around us -- read with me this passage from Numbers 6:22-27

Numbers 6:22-27 [New International Version (NIV)]

22 The Lord said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

24

“‘“The Lord bless you

    and keep you;

25

the Lord make his face shine on you

    and be gracious to you;

26

the Lord turn his face toward you

    and give you peace.”’

27 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

            -- this is known as the priestly blessing -- this blessing was given by God to Moses for Aaron and the other priests to recite as a blessing for the nation of Israel

            -- if you don’t know anything else to say, then use this blessing as a guide for those whose lives you are speaking into -- pray this blessing on them

            -- ask that the Lord would keep them -- that the Lord would make His face shine upon them -- that He would be gracious to them -- that they would know the grace and mercy of the cross and the sacrifice of Jesus on their behalf -- and that the Lord would turn His face towards them, and give them peace with Him and with others

            -- we’re going to close now, and I want to leave you with this challenge -- this week, pay attention to the words you use when you speak to others -- think before you speak, and make an effort to only speak positive and affirming things into the lives of those around you

            -- look for opportunities to bless others -- to verbally speak into their lives the power and presence of God -- to speak to their future and to who God wants them to be -- and see if you notice a change

            -- make an effort to be a balcony person this week and bless others with your words

            -- let’s pray

1 Illustration modified from: https://www.sermoncentral.com/illustrations/sermon-illustration-bobby-mcdaniel-stories-christianvalues-14489?ref=AllSermonPrep

2 Men of Integrity, "How Little It Takes," (November/December 2010)

http://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2010/december/5120610.html?id=90272

3 http://iblp.org/questions/what-power-spoken-blessing

4 From a sermon by David Owens, Encourage One Another, 11/3/2009 -- Illustration downloaded from Sermon Central: http://www.sermoncentral.com/illustrations/scripture/illustrations-on-hebrews-10+23-25.asp

5 Tracy Keck http://takeck.blogspot.com/2009/02/speaking-life-not-death.html